ABIDING IN HIS LOVE – Filled with His Spirit

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 

John 15:9

Before you can abide fully in the love of Jesus Christ you first have to understand

1. how the Father loves Jesus and 
2. how Jesus, in like manner, loves you.

THE FATHER LOVES THE SON

     Immediately after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, the Father began to demonstrate openly His love for His Son. Before His voice thundered from heaven that Jesus was His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased, the Father sent the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove to rest upon and fill Jesus. In His great love for His Son the Father knew that Jesus, who was fully human, could not fulfill His mission on earth without the Holy Spirit. So Jesus came up out of the Jordan empowered to handle anything and everything because the Holy Spirit was with Him and in Him. 

• Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. Luke 4:1
• Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. Luke 4: 14, 15

The Holy Spirit never left Jesus during His time here on earth.

• …God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38   

After Jesus’ mission was complete, and His lifeless body lay in the tomb the Father, in His love, sent His Holy Spirit to raise His Son from the dead.

• But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you Romans 8:11

THE SON’S LOVE FOR YOU

1. Before He sends you out to fulfill your unique mission here on earth Jesus, like the Father, does not send you alone. He makes sure that His Holy Spirit is with you and in you.

• But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Acts 1:8

• In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise… Ephesians 1:13

2. Just as the Father showed Jesus all things, Jesus in another demonstration of His love, sent the Holy Spirit to teach you everything you need to know.

• But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 14:26
• …when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. John 16:13

3. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will not leave you. He is with you always.

• If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may abide with you forever… John 14:15, 16

4. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, Jesus and the Father are there also. They are One in you.

• I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. John 14:18
• If anyone loves Me he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our home with him. John 14: 23

5. It is the Holy Spirit who transforms your thoughts so that your words and actions reflect the character of Jesus the Christ.

• But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Galatians 5: 22, 23

6. When you are tempted to worry Jesus assures you of His love by saying…

• God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

7. Jesus knows the limitations of our human language so the Holy Spirit is there when you don’t know what to say.

• Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26

8. The Holy Spirit empowers you to do what is beyond your natural ability

• But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 1 Corinthians 12:7-11

9. Jesus, in His love, gives you life by His Holy Spirit.

• But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Romans 8:11

What love Jesus shows you and me in imparting His Holy Spirit!!